


Not a Spectator Sport

by Leamas



Category: SCP Foundation
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-12
Updated: 2018-06-12
Packaged: 2019-05-21 06:10:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14909829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leamas/pseuds/Leamas
Summary: Sometimes the resources to save his many half-siblings aren't there, but when it's for family, David isn't above calling in whatever help he can get. Even if that "other help" comes from civilians.





	Not a Spectator Sport

It had taken about twenty minutes to drive down this small stretch of road, but eventually Talon pulled up next to a row of illegally parked cars and rolled down his window. The car behind honked, and a cluster of jaywalkers who looked a bit less than sober thanked him for letting them pass, one slapping the front of the car.

“Did you order a taxi?” he called, loudly, so he could be heard.

A moment later David approached, tapping his cane along the pavement until he reached Talon’s car. Talon threw the door open, remembering when it was too late that David wouldn’t see, remembering when David caught the door and slid into the passenger’s seat that David was psychic—like, the real deal—and knew he’d do that.

“Right when I expected.”

“But still not on time.”

The back door open and an Asian woman climbed in, quickly pulling the door shut behind her and crossing her arms over her chest. She stared straight ahead of herself, jaw clenched, sitting rigid.

“You’re going to need to put your seatbelt on,” Talon told her. He watched through the rear-view mirror as she pulled it across her in a single, solid movement, then went back to sitting exactly how she had been.

“You should probably start driving,” David said. “I don’t think the cars behind us will be patient for too much longer.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Talon said, edging the car forward. It was hard to go anywhere fast with pedestrians crossing the street in packs, and children playing on the sidewalks. Parents were drunk, so were a few teenagers, and every few feet someone would be lighting up a sparkler. Fucking Fourth of July.

“I’m sorry if I dragged you away from something fun.” A complete apology, but said tentatively, like there was a second half that he wasn’t sharing.

“Don’t worry about it,” Talon said. “I was at this barbecue, and it really wasn’t that great. I had half a mind to go back to my apartment and crack open a few beers there, watch the fireworks in peace on my balcony—do you think I’m just getting old?”

“Going back to your apartment alone?” David teased, being almost a decade older than Talon and even more incriminatingly, almost forty, leaving him with no comment on matters of age that would be any good for Talon.

“Well, maybe not alone.”

Finally, they were getting away from the park, untangling the knot of pavement and finding open road—or at least road that wasn’t congested with stragglers who left it too long and were mad that they wouldn’t find good parking, or a good place to sit to watch the fireworks. In no time they were driving through winding country road, flanked by trees on either side, the madness they’d just witnessed forgotten. Talon smelled someone’s barbecue.

“Sorry I took so long getting out here,” Talon said. “Getting out of the city was a pain. And then when I called, I really did think that it’d be five minutes, and that the hardest part would just be finding you, but that really shows what I know. I was looking for your dog.”

“Mister Snuggles! Yeah, I didn’t bring her.”

“She doesn’t like fireworks?”

“Something like that.”

“Some guy was being arrested at the top of the road. Did you see that, down where you were waiting?”

“No.”

“Right. Obviously.”

“Did you see what happened?”

“No,” Talon admitted. “Not really. I was looking for you. Should I have?” It was just a slight shift in the tone of his voice, a note different than usual, something in its tone reminding Talon of the woman in the backseat who hadn’t said a word, not even to introduce herself. She sat silent like a ghost.

“You want to turn right a mile down,” David said.

“Thanks,” Talon said. “You mind telling me where I’m taking you?”

“To meet an associate,” David said. He touched Talon’s arm. “You don’t mind.”

“If you say so,” Talon said. He made the turn David specified. “So, who’s your friend?”

“Her name is Lima,” David said, and then, like saying her name activated something, he turned leaned over into the back seat to face her, or roughly. “You might want to brace yourself. The fireworks will start soon.”

About half a minute later the sky in front of them lit up, gold. Talon felt the sound in his chest, next to his own heartbeat. In the rear-view mirror Talon caught a glimpse of Lima, now leaning against the window, still with her arms over her chest. It looked more like she was hugging herself.

 

An hour later they were parked outside Promise Clinic, a gated private hospital that Talon had never heard of. David got them through the gates with an ID card, leaving Talon to briefly wonder if this was where David had come when he’d lost his eyes, until he saw the name on the card.

“Thank you,” David said, “for doing this for us.”

“It’s no problem,” Talon said. “I’m glad you called.”

“Yes,” David said. “I’m sure you’d like to hear from me more often, and believe me—I’d like that, too.”

“You just haven’t had the time.”

David nodded. “Usually I’d say that this is goodbye, but there’s someone waiting inside who will want to meet you.”

“One of your associates?” Talon asked.

“Yes, but she’s a bit more than that,” David said. “She’s my aunt. And she’s heard a lot about you.”

Talon laughed.

“I’m serious,” David said, a smile playing at his pierced lips. “Do you think I’d joke about family?”

“I know you’re not joking,” Talon said. “I just hoped I’d be wearing something a bit more presentable when you finally introduced me.”

“You look fine to me,” David said, opening the car door and taking his cane with him. Talon watched as David let Lima out. For a minute he thought that David would offer Lima his arm, but she didn’t seem like the kind of woman who would take it.  Standing outside of the car, with her hands shoved deep into her pockets, and her head bowed forward, she looked like a ghost.

“So, does your aunt work here?” Talon asked as they made their way across the parking lot.

“Sort of,” David said. “Let’s just say, she does some of her work from an office here.”

“How’s that different from working here?”

“She doesn’t work for the hospital. This is just her base of operations.”

They walked into the front doors, Lima and Talon staying behind while David approached the front desk and showed his ID. There was a short exchange, and then David walked back in their direction, Talon taking David’s arm when he couldn’t quite find where they were standing.

“She’ll be with us in a moment,” David said. “Lima?”

She raised her head. David obviously didn’t notice, until she said, “What?”

“It’s over. You’re safe now.”

Lima frowned, then turned away to look down at the floor. Talon didn’t think it would be possible for her to hold herself any tighter, but somehow she did. Somehow she still looked aggressive the whole time. “You don’t know that,” she finally said.

“I do.”

“He does,” Talon agreed. David shifted from one foot to the other and turned his shoulders to more include Talon in the conversation, which carried the same weight as if David had looked at him, met his eyes.

“You said that nothing’s set in stone.”

“You’re right,” David said. “I can’t tell you what will happen to you now—you still have some say over that. But I know that _they_ won’t get you. They don’t know where you are, and they will never find you again.”

She didn’t have anything to say to that. Lima pushed her hair over her ear and turned away.

Just then an older man emerged from a door behind the desk. “Mr Blindman? If you could just follow me.”

“Go on,” David instructed Lima. She took a hesitant step in the older man’s direction, and Talon led David towards the hallway. They hung behind several feet when Talon said, “I shouldn’t be here.”

“She’s going to ask about you,” David said. “Anyway, I want you here. I’ve known you long enough.”

“Long enough for what?” David still held his arm, although now it was less for guidance and more to keep Talon in place.

“Just trust me, Talon. I know that you’re curious about me, aren’t you?”

They followed this man down the hallway, through a set of locked doors and then left, down another hallway. Lima walked ahead, sticking close to the man and staring at her feet, occasionally nodding in response to something that the man said to her. Soon they came to an elevator that they rode to the fourth floor, and it opened onto a furnished hallway. The waiting room was tastefully decorated, the walls painted; there were couches instead of uncomfortable hospital chairs. On the table, alongside the magazines, were packaged biscuits and crackers. It looked like it could be someone’s living room.

“If you would just wait here,” the man said. “Claire will be with you soon.”

Lima looked to David, and so did Talon.

“Thank you,” David said, “But we won’t be waiting long.”

As he said that a door opened, and a woman stepped into the waiting room/living room. Mister Snuggles was at her heels, and upon seeing David trotted across the room to stand beside him. He crouched down, letting his companion brush up against him before standing again, one hand hovering over her head.

The woman looked at the four people standing there, first to the man and then to David, before finally her eyes rested on Lima. Talon had the feeling that he’d been right—whatever was happening, it wasn’t for him. He’d had that sense when he picked up the phone a few hours ago; if he’d been drinking, then the sound of David’s voice would have sobered him right up.

“David,” the woman said. “Good job. We’ll talk later, after we see to Miss Kang.”

Lima shifted.

“Lima, meet Claire,” David said. “You have her to thank for everything.”

“Thanks,” Lima mumbled to the floor. “If you did all that…”

“That? It was nothing,” Claire was saying. “Anything that I can do for my family.”

“Talon,” David said, while the older woman gently guided Lima towards one of the hallways, along with the man who brought them up there. “Wait here a minute. My aunt and I have a few things to take care of. Lima’s exhausted. It’s been quite a day.”

“I don’t think I could imagine what kind of day it was,” Talon said, looking at Lima. For the first time since she climbed into his car, he thought that he saw her smile. She ducked her head to the side before he could confirm this.

“Make yourself at home,” David said. “Help yourself to some of the cookies, too.”

 

David didn’t know what the room that Claire had prepared for Lima was like, but he knew Claire and he knew her attention to detail—he was sure that it was homely. They hadn’t stayed with Lima long; there would be time to talk to her about what had happened over the next few days, after she had the chance to rest and regain her bearings. She’d be asleep within the next half hour, David knew, and within a few months she’d be something like herself again, when the shock of being hunted began to finally wear off.

Now he sat in one of Claire’s office, Mister Snuggles asleep at his feet and a cup of coffee in hand. The past 48 hours had been hell. He’d been able to forget that while he was with Lima, but now that she was safe he felt the sheer exhaustion creep up on him.

“Did Simon know that they’d catch him?” Claire asked.

“No,” David said. “He knew that it was a risk, but even I didn’t know that it would go that way until—what time is it?”

“Just after one.”

“I didn’t know until seven hours ago. It was too late to change the plan by then. There weren’t any other options. But you already know that.”

“You’re only justifying it to yourself,” Claire said. “You brought Simon into this knowing that the Foundation would capture him.”

“What else was I supposed to do?” David snapped. “Every other option looked worse, and I’d risk my own life before leaving one of my siblings to fall into their hands. I do. Regularly.”

He knew what Claire would say: _Then why are you so defensive?_

“Then why are you so defensive?” Claire asked.

David was about to shoot something back before he caught himself. It was a good question. Why _was_ he so defensive? He’d made his choice—his family, at all costs. Simon wasn’t family. He was living with that choice.

“I hate sending people to be caught like that.”

“You said it yourself: Simon knew the risk.”

“It’s cruel. I knew it would happen. I told him to trust me.”

“You knew it was a risk when you made the plan,” Claire said. “You only knew that it would go that way when it was too late to do anything about it.”

“And then I brought Talon into this.”

“He’ll be fine,” Claire said. “As long as he’s back home by, oh, let’s say seven tomorrow morning, no one will think anything of this.”

“But it won’t just be this,” David said, already resigned to this when he climbed into Talon’s car. “I don’t like getting my boyfriends involved with this part of my life.”

“They already are,” Claire said. “They’re involved with you, after all. Do you stop being the Legitimate Son just because you’re taking a day for your personal time? Or that the Foundation would be above using them against you if the day came where they thought it would do any good?”

“No,” David said. “Of course I don’t. You’re right.”

“You trust him.”

“I think he’s a decent person who’d take a stand against what’s been done to us wherever possible,” David told Claire, truthfully. “He’d stand with the right side of our family.”

 

Talon hadn’t been sure what he’d expected when David said, “She’s like me, but better,” but talking to Claire cleared that up quickly enough. David didn’t draw unnecessary attention to his gifts, unless asked—and Talon asked often—but at multiple points in the conversation Claire would turn to Talon, sometimes interrupting the silence hanging over them, and say, “Just ask the question. I know you’re going to, so there’s no point worrying about looking rude.” It wasn’t that he was worried about looking rude, though; he also worried about looking silly, and he worried about actually getting the answers to their questions.

“Fine,” Talon said. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but why?”

“You heard what I told Miss Kang,” Claire said. “They’re family. It’s my duty to protect her.”

“My father,” David said, with a short, awkward laugh. “He really couldn’t keep it in his pants. And that’s really unfortunate, because all his kids are like me.”

“So Lima’s psychic, too.”

“No,” David said, “but she has her own gifts. Generally, it’s considered rude to ask.”

“All right, all right,” Talon said, looking back to Claire. “All your nieces and nephews are… like David, and you’re stepping in to protect them.”

“Yes,” Claire said. “My family, and anyone else who might need it, who I can help.”

“You’ll have your work cut out for you,” Talon said. “There will always be someone out there who needs it.”

A smile graced Claire’s lips. She would have known he’d say that, Talon realised. So would David, maybe. He’d once described the future as something that he needed to read. It didn’t come to him like a vision; it wasn’t something that was just beamed to him, that he instantly knew. He had to make the conscious choice to look at it. And, like reading anything, the more he’d done it, the better he got. And Claire was _like me, but better_.

Talon shrugged. There were a number of places in the room that he could look, from the rugs to the prints on the wall to some of the photographs sitting on Claire’s desk. It would be easy enough for his eyes to wander, but oddly, he found himself choosing to look at her. “Okay, one more question. Who are you protecting these people from? The government? Is this like, some kind of X-Men situation?”

“I told you,” Claire said, with a dismissive wave of her hand. “It’s a family affair.”

“I’m not family.”

“You helped two members of my family tonight,” she said. “Without you, they would have had even more trouble than what they’ve faced already.”

“I just gave them a lift.” Which seriously paled in comparison to what little he’d been told about how David took Lima under her wing, saying nothing about the yawning silence on what Lima had endured on her own for god knows how long.

“Don’t underestimate what you’ve ‘just’ done,” Claire said, seeming to understand what Talon was thinking. “Especially when you don’t know the full circumstances.”

Talon nodded. He looked to David, sitting comfortably on the couch, looking more tired than usual. That wasn’t unsurprising. Talon had been dreading spending the day with his family, just waiting for the chance when he could slip away to be with his friends, while David was risking his life for one of his fugitive half-sisters. Was that fair—could he call Lima that?

“How important is your family?”

“They mean everything to me,” David said.

“I know that,” Talon said, laughing. “I just mean…”

“I know what you just mean,” David interrupted. “But you don’t know the half of it, Talon. I don’t think we’d have time to explain it to you here—not if you want to get back to your apartment before morning.”

“I didn’t realise I was on a curfew.”

“It would be best,” Claire said, “if you were back before anyone could notice you here. Best for you, that is.”

Talon nodded. “You guys are up against some really dangerous people, aren’t you?”

“I think I might have understated myself when I said that you don’t know the half of it.”


End file.
